The lifting of the CPC’s siege mentality is another structural factor that may stall the rise of permanent CPC government — and certainly permanent Harper Government:

In total, the Prime Minister has named 66 Conservatives to Cabinet, or as parliamentary secretaries. This leaves 100 Conservatives on the outside looking in — many of whom are in the process of resigning themselves to the fact they have risen as far as they are likely to.

This is bound to lead to trouble ahead for the Prime Minister. MPs and the party’s Western base are likely to start grumbling about geography, gender and ethnicity being the determining factors when it comes to promotion and policy decisions. A number of MPs are already whispering that they thought Mr. Harper would have felt more free to focus more on merit and contribution to the team, having won a majority. “I don’t see a revolt but more a sustained disenchantment,” said one MP.

Recall that winning triple majorities didn’t make Chretien any more popular with some factions of his caucus.

Look for Harper to continue trying to make the Conservative base believe that they are still “in opposition” to large segments of Canadian society (leading with the media).